Nursing care and models of care in relation to older people in long-term care contexts: a scoping review protocol

INTRODUCTION: What nurses do and how they do it can influence older people’s experiences of the quality of long-term care. In addition, a clear role definition for nurses supports them in giving patients appropriate basic care. Despite this, there is a lack of a clear role definition regarding policy, work descriptions and expectations. Therefore, the objective of this scoping review is to map the literature on nurses’ role, function and care activities and/or nursing interventions, as well as to identify nursing interventions (as models of nursing care, patient care pathways and/or clinical practice guidelines) in relation to older people in long-term care. Hence, to explore how nurse’s role, function and care activities in relation to older people’s basic care needs are described and understood by key stakeholders (older people, their next of kin, nurses) in long-term care. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Arksey and O’Malley’s methodologic framework for scoping studies will be used for this upcoming scoping review. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist will be followed. Search strategies will be developed in collaboration with the research team and an experienced librarian. Search strategies will be adjusted for each of the databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus. Data will be charted using a pilot extraction sheet. Quantitative data will be described numerically, and qualitative data will be analysed using thematic analysis. The key stakeholders will be consulted for validation. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The upcoming study will follow All European Academies' principles for good research. The findings will be used to inform the design of future studies aiming to develop a nursing intervention targeting older peoples’ basic care needs.